A SOC (Security Operations Center) analyst watches an organisation's logs and alerts, decides what is a real threat, and kicks off the response. It is one of the most common ways into cybersecurity. Here is a realistic, free path to your first junior (L1) role - and you can do all the hands-on practice in your browser with the free SOC Analyst course.
What does a SOC analyst actually do?
L1 analysts monitor the alert queue, do first triage, and escalate real incidents. L2 analysts investigate deeper - correlating events across sources, scoping the impact, and guiding containment. L3 handles threat hunting and the hardest cases.
The skills you need
- Linux and the command line - most logs are read here. Start with Learn Linux or the online terminal.
- Networking basics - TCP/IP, ports, DNS. The Network Traffic Analysis course teaches you to read packet captures.
- Log analysis - Linux auth logs, web access logs, Windows security events.
- Triage and frameworks - a repeatable process and MITRE ATT&CK.
- Incident response and reporting - clear write-ups are half the job.
A free, hands-on roadmap
- Learn Linux fundamentals.
- Understand networking and read a packet capture.
- Work real logs and alerts in the SOC Analyst course - auth logs, web shells, Windows events, IDS alerts.
- Practise defence end to end with the Blue Team course.
- Prepare for interviews with our SOC analyst interview questions.
Do you need a degree or certification?
Neither is strictly required to start. What interviewers really test is whether you can read evidence and explain your reasoning. Build that by doing the labs and writing up what you find - then you will have real cases to talk about.